London has been battered by 50mph winds that have felled trees and caused travel chaos. Powerful gusts swept across the capital as the Met Office issued a yellow "be aware" weather alert for most of the country.

A multi-millionaire businessman who is one of Russia’s most wanted men has been arrested at Gatwick Airport after allegedly flying into the UK on a fake passport.

Georgy Trefilov, 41, a retail and supermarket tycoon, was held by Border Force officers on Tuesday afternoon moments after touching down at the airport on a flight from Spain. He was arrested on suspicion of having a counterfeit Greek passport and was later charged with possessing a false identity document.

He appeared at Crawley magistrates’ court on Wednesday where he was remanded in custody and is due to appear next at Lewes crown court on April 5.

Trefilov, who was named as Russia’s 79th richest man in 2011, lives in Britain and is fighting what he claims are corrupt fraud charges in Moscow.

Last year Westminster magistrates’ court rejected an extradition request from Russia after a judge expressed shock on hearing evidence of Russian officials demanding bribes to downgrade charges against the businessman.

Trefilov’s company Marta Holdings owns a number of retail chains with a total of 300 stores. His company’s assets were valued at more than $1.5 billion in 2008.